Countryfile Royal Special

In the first episode of Countryfile’s Queen and Country series, which celebrates both 30 years of Countryfile and the 65th anniversary of the Queen’s Coronation, the Countryfile team visit one of the Royal Family’s most cherished estates - Windsor.

Matt Baker meets the royal historian Kate Williams, who describes The Queen’s long association with the estate - particularly during World War II, when the then-Princess joined the Women’s Auxiliary Territorial Service. Matt is also introduced to the Queen’s favourite riding pony, Emma.

The Windsor Estate is home to many of the Royal Family’s farming pursuits. Adam Henson gets an insight into dairy farming at Windsor, ancient and modern, where robots clean the slurry and cows sleep on waterbeds, but the original creamery designed by Prince Albert still survives.

Anita Rani finds out more about the Royal Family’s favoured breed of working horse, the Cleveland Bay - the bloodline for which The Queen herself rescued by purchasing one of only three stallions left in the UK. Anita also meets Windsor’s head gamekeeper, who talks her through the reintroduction of deer to the estate. The herd’s numbers have increased more than tenfold since being brought down from Balmoral in 1979.

John Craven meets with the Estate’s Parkland manager, who tells the story of a woodland landscape that’s more than 1,000 years old - many of the most historic trees have seen, and have stood throughout, generations of the Royal Family.

This beautiful programme, filmed with consent from Her Majesty the Queen and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, celebrates The Queen’s passion for the countryside and her knowledge and love of animals.

Publicity contact: RG